Roger Vadim, born Roger Vladimir Plemiannikov (January 26, 1928 – February 11, 2000) was a French journalist, author, actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman. The scene of Bardot dancing barefoot on a table remains one of the most erotic scenes in French cinema.
Vadim was born in Paris, France. His Belarusian father, Igor Plemiannikov, had immigrated from Ukraine and become a naturalized French citizen, and was a vice consul of France to Egypt.
Vadim became a stage actor at the age of 16.
In 1947 he became assistant writer to film director Marc Allégret.
As well as his movie achievements, Roger Vadim was celebrated for his romances/marriages to such beautiful women as actresses Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda. He also lived with Catherine Deneuve, with whom he had a child Christian Vadim, prior to his marriage to Fonda. The transsexual Warhol Superstar Candy Darling wrote of an alleged affair with Vadim in her diaries, My Face for the World to See. She claims that the relationship took place during his marriage to Jane Fonda. In addition to his theater and movie work, he wrote several books including his autobiography D'une étoile à l'autre (From One Star to the Next).
Vadim also painted and sculpted. Some of his artwork was sold In the Modern Master Art Gallery on Beverly Blvd. In 1981 Los Angelos, California. The gallery was owned by his life long friend Jacques M. Harvey also a painter, chef, author from Paris France. They met while working together as a part-time journalist at Paris Match Magazine.
Vadim died at age 72 of lymphoma and is buried in the St. Tropez Cemetery, Saint Tropez, France. He was survived by his wife, French actress Marie-Christine Barrault, and four children: Vanessa, born to Fonda; Christian with Deneuve; Nathalie, born to actress Annette Stroyberg; and Vania, his child with heiress Catherine Schneider.
